Trend Micro Antivirus Review 2021: Does It Fully Protect Against Malware?

Trend Micro provides an advanced anti-malware scanner for a good price, but its additional features are pretty inconsistent. 

Trend Micro’s real-time antivirus scanner uses a combination of signature-based scanning and advanced machine-learning techniques to detect viruses, trojans, and worms, as well as advanced threats like ransomware, backdoor exploits, and cryptojackers. The malware scanner performed extremely well in my testing, catching almost all of my test malware files — without slowing down my PC.

Trend Micro’s additional security features include:

• Browser security extension.
• PC tune-up.
• Dark web monitoring.
• Data theft protection.
• Password manager.
• VPN.
• Parental controls.
• Social media privacy scanner.

While I like Trend Micro’s social media scanner and browser-security features, some of its extras are extremely underwhelming. The PC optimizations don’t offer much that Microsoft and Mac can’t already do, and the VPN is one of the worst I’ve ever tested.

But while there were a few things I didn’t like, overall Trend Micro provides good, affordable malware protection in a user-friendly interface. It offers a free 30-day trial for all plans, and all purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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Trend Micro Full Review

Trend Micro’s malware scanner and real-time protection are excellent, and the program has some good privacy features that help improve both online and offline security.

While some of Trend Micro’s additional features don’t quite stack up against the top antiviruses on the market, it’s a very user-friendly product with high-performing core features, and its different plans will definitely suit the needs of most users.

Trend Micro Security Features

Virus Scanner

Trend Micro’s virus scanner provides excellent anti-malware detection. It uses a combination of signature-based scanning (cross-referencing files against Trend Micro’s massive virus database) and machine learning. It can protect against known malware, as well as zero-day threats and malware variants — which can get past traditional malware scanners.

Trend Micro provides 3 scan options:

• Quick Scan: Scans areas of your computer where security risks are typically found, such as your system folders, background processes, and registry.
• Full Scan: Scans the entire disk (not including files that are password protected or encrypted).
• Custom Scan: Scans files or folders of your choice.

To test the different scan options, I downloaded a huge archive with nearly 1,000 malware samples in it — including viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, trojans, adware, keyloggers, rootkits, and cryptojackers. I hid all the samples in different locations, making sure some of them went into my system folders and registry.

First, I ran Trend Micro’s quick scan. It only took 3 minutes on my computer, which is pretty impressive (some other antivirus products take 10–30 minutes for a quick scan).

The quick scan identified every malicious sample in my critical folders, which is impressive.

Next, I ran Trend Micro’s full scan, which took just 40 minutes — faster than McAfee, which took an hour. Trend Micro was able to detect about 97% of the malware on my disk, which is pretty great (although not as good as Norton’s 100% detection rate).

My computer speeds weren’t affected while running the scan, either — I was still able to stream HD video.

The scanner comes with several other helpful options. You can adjust the level of protection sensitivity, change the notification settings, and even ask Trend Micro to automatically delete unsafe files and PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), or choose to deactivate the machine-learning aspect of the scanner.

I really appreciate the number of scan settings that Trend Micro offers, as well as how easy it was to access them.

Trend Micro’s malware scanner is fast and powerful, and doesn’t drain system resources. While its detection rates aren’t quite perfect, they’re close. Plus, its scanner is a lot quicker than those of other antiviruses such as VIPRE and McAfee, and it includes a ton of convenient settings if you want the ability to fine-tune your antivirus experience.

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Real-Time Protection

Trend Micro’s real-time malware protection is basic but effective. It monitors your activity on the web and stops you from downloading any malicious files or attachments. It also monitors files on your desktop and blocks them from making changes on your computer.

Trend Micro’s real-time protection can defend against:

• Malware.
• Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPS).
• Ransomware.
• Exploits.

To test the real-time protection, I cleaned my PC of any remaining test samples from the antivirus scanner test, and then attempted to redownload the same archive (containing nearly 1,000 samples). Trend Micro’s real-time scanner detected every single malware file, preventing them from being downloaded and potentially infecting my PC.

I also tested Trend Micro’s real-time protection against WICAR’s database of web-based exploits, and I was impressed that Trend Micro blocked all of the exploit attacks before they were able to target my browser and plugins.

Overall, Trend Micro’s real-time protection was extremely effective at preventing malicious files from running on my PC.

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Phishing / Web Protection

Trend Micro’s web protection operates in the background, blocking malicious and fraudulent websites. It does this by automatically comparing every site you visit with an online database of blacklisted sites. If the site you’re trying to visit appears on the database, Trend Micro will block access.

I tested the protection across Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. I tried visiting hundreds of sample phishing sites, and Trend Micro blocked my access every time. It even blocked access to websites that the default protections on web browsers like Chrome and Firefox failed to block.

I also really like how easy it is to whitelist safe sites. Trend Micro opens a little dialogue box every time it blocks a website, with the option to ignore its warning and visit the site, or even whitelist that site completely.

Overall, I was impressed with Trend Micro’s anti-phishing protection. It’s easy to use, and it blocked all of the phishing sites in my tests.

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PC Health Check-Up

Trend Micro’s PC Health Check-Up is a Windows-only system tune-up feature that optimizes your PC in 4 ways. With one click, PC Tune-Up can:

• Fix Security Vulnerabilities: Checks if your OS is up to date and if the computer’s firewall settings are secure.
• Reduce Computer Startup Time: Changes which programs boot up when you log in to your PC.
• Restore Disk Space: Empties the recycle bin, deletes duplicate files, and cleans temporary folders.
• Clean Privacy Data: Removes personal data from Windows, messenger applications, and media players.

I wasn’t impressed with this feature. The PC Health Check-Up took 5 minutes to complete a full scan of my computer, but it wasn’t able to save me any space. However, when I ran my PC’s built-in Windows Disk Cleanup app, it cleaned out almost 300 MB of space.

The “Reduce Computer Startup Time” feature highlights the programs you can manually disable from launching at startup, in order to improve your startup speeds. But this is available in Windows and Mac by default, so it doesn’t add much value to the tune-up feature.

Overall, Trend Micro’s PC Health Check-Up isn’t that good. Many of its features are available on Windows and Mac by default, where they generally also perform better. The only benefit PC Tune-Up really brings is the ability to have all of your optimization features in one place, but otherwise, you could just stick with your system’s built-in clean-up features.

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Privacy Scanner

Trend Micro’s privacy scanner allows you to adjust your web browser and social media privacy settings for a variety of sites and browsers. To use it on your social media profiles, you need to download the Trend Micro Toolbar and be logged into the social media account you wish to scan. Trend Micro will then look at that account, and open a pop-up window that allows you to easily address any privacy concerns it finds. Trend Micro looks for:

• Who can see your personal information.
• If your social media profile appears on search engines.
• Who can look you up using your email address.
• Who can look you up using your phone number.
• If advertisers can display targeted ads based on your activity.

I downloaded the Trend Micro Toolbar on Chrome and ran a scan on my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles.

The scanner only took a minute, and then listed all privacy concerns with an option to easily adjust them. Overall, it’s a convenient feature, especially because many social media sites make it pretty difficult for you to find, understand, or change your privacy settings.

However, the browser scanner portion of the privacy scanner was more disappointing. It only worked with Internet Explorer and Firefox in my testing, even though it’s supposedly also compatible with Chrome. It let me decide whether to allow tracking and password saving on Internet Explorer and Firefox, and to turn their built-in anti-phishing protections on or off.

While this in itself is useful, these features are easily accessible in the web browsers’ own settings, without Trend Micro. And considering that Internet Explorer is pretty much a dead browser (Microsoft has put most of its energy into the new Chromium-based Edge browser), Trend Micro’s browser scanner ultimately isn’t as useful as it could be.

That said, the Privacy Scanner’s social media protections are pretty useful, especially if you have a hard time finding and changing privacy settings across your social media accounts.

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Trend Micro ID Security (Mobile Only)

Trend Micro ID Security constantly scans the dark web, and immediately alerts you if it finds any of your personally identifiable information (PII), including:

• Email addresses.
• Passwords.
• Credit card numbers.
• Bank account numbers.
• Passport information.

It’s not quite as impressive as Norton, which uses AI technology and covers additional types of information, such as insurance numbers. But Trend Micro is better than TotalAV, which just uses Have I Been Pwned’s database to scan for breached emails.

Trend Micro’s data monitor sends leak alerts directly to your email or mobile when a breach is detected. If this happens, it notifies you about what information is breached, and instructs you to protect each leaked account with a stronger password, providing a hyperlink to the breached website so you can quickly make the needed changes.

I tested the email breach scanner with an old email address that I’ve intentionally entered into dozens of sketchy sites. The email scanner worked well, turning up 20 different sites that had leaked my email address.

Trend Micro ID Security is only available on Android and iOS, which I found a little odd. PC and Mac users only get access to a basic email scanner through Trend Micro’s website.

Overall, Trend Micro’s ID Security is more comprehensive than most of its competitors’ comparable products, but it’s not as good as Norton’s. Being able to check if your emails, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information has been compromised is pretty great. But if you’re really concerned with identity protection, it’s better to choose a service with live support and protection for more types of information.

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Password Manager

Trend Micro’s password manager secures passwords and other sensitive data with 256-bit AES encryption. The free version of the password manager is really restrictive, only allowing you to store 5 passwords. This is pretty disappointing, especially considering there are tons of free password managers that allow for unlimited passwords. However, Trend Micro’s premium package includes an upgraded version of the password manager, which does let you store unlimited passwords.

Trend Micro’s password manager includes:

• Unlimited password storage (premium version).
• Password generator.
• Automatic form filler.
• Secure notes.

There’s no desktop app for the password manager — just browser extensions for desktop users and mobile apps for both iOS and Android. Once you’ve installed the relevant browser extension or app, the password manager will ask you to create a master password.

Trend Micro’s password manager operates on a zero-knowledge protocol, meaning if you forget this master password, you won’t be able to reset it. This is great for security, but it means you’ll have a problem if you do forget the password, as there are no account recovery options. In my view, this is a bit of a limitation. Other popular password managers like LastPass and Dashlane have several account recovery options, just in case you lose access to your account.

The password storage and auto-fill feature is really basic, but it works well. When you log in to a website, Trend Micro will ask if you want to save your details. When you then return to a saved site, it will open a small dialogue box asking if you want to log in. It’s pretty quick and convenient, and it recognized all of my saved websites during testing.

Trend Micro also features a password generator. It allows you to generate a password consisting of 8–20 characters, which can contain upper- or lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. This is a fairly useful feature, but it doesn’t include a passphrase generator like Bitwarden does.

Trend Micro’s password manager does the basics well, but it doesn’t have a lot of features compared to others on the market. It has easy-to-use password saving and autofill capabilities, and I like the functionality of its password generator. However, it doesn’t provide many additional features like 2FA (two-factor authentication), password vault auditing, or password sharing, which are included with most top password managers these days.

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Parental Controls

Trend Micro’s parental controls are basic but really intuitive. You can use them to:

• Block websites.
• Set time limits on internet access, specific apps, or whole devices.
• Block applications.

When you first run the parental controls, a startup wizard will take you through the setup where you choose the websites or applications you want it to block. There are also different age presets you can select if you just want Trend Micro to set everything up for you.

I created a fake profile for a pre-teen child aged 8–12, who could only use the computer for 4 hours on the weekend. I also blocked this test profile from accessing certain applications on my hard drive.

The website filtering worked pretty well. It can block 31 categories of websites, including:

• Adult websites.
• Communication media websites.
• Controversial websites.
• Shopping websites.
• Entertainment websites.

When I tried to visit a banned website, it wouldn’t load, and Trend Micro instead displayed a pop-up notification in the bottom corner of my screen telling me that the website had been blocked.

If you click on the “Temporarily allow” or “Permanently allow” links within the message, it asks for your account password before allowing access to the blocked website. This is a really useful feature, and I imagine many parents will appreciate the ability to temporarily whitelist websites in this way.

Trend Micro’s content filtering was pretty inconsistent. It worked on certain categories – such as adult websites — but struggled on others. For example, when I tried to filter out “weaponry,” I could still access many websites and videos about guns. However, filtering out dangerous YouTube videos is pretty tough for any parental control app. I recommend you check out our blog post about keeping kids safe on YouTube for some helpful tips.

Trend Micro’s image search filter didn’t work at all. With it turned on, I was still able to look at adult images on Google Images.

The time restrictions worked really well — I was able to limit the amount of time kids can spend on a device entirely, and to schedule time allowed for internet access. If your kid needs some more time online, you can easily add an extra hour by entering your password.

Similarly, when their scheduled hours of computer/device use are reaching an end, a timer will appear warning them that they have 5 minutes before they’ll be logged out. You’ll then need to enter your password to regain access to the device. You can also enter your password during the 5-minute countdown to allow an additional hour.

The Program Access controls were pretty effective as well. I tried this with various applications, including video games, and each time Trend Micro successfully blocked them. I even tried to trick the app blocker by renaming blocked applications, moving them, deleting them, and reinstalling them, but none of these methods worked.

However, I was disappointed in Trend Micro’s parental controls report screen. It only reports attempts to access blocked websites — so if your kid is accessing other inappropriate websites that haven’t already been filtered, there’s no way of knowing. It also doesn’t track application use, so there’s no way to know what your kid is spending their time on (e.g., if they’re playing video games or using educational apps).

All of the best parental control programs on the market show every website your child has visited, every app they’ve tried to access, and the amount of time they’ve spent in each app. These are really helpful features for parents, and it’s a shame they’re missing from Trend Micro’s product.

Overall, I’d say Trend Micro’s parental controls are only okay. The content filtering was inconsistent, and I think the report screen should be much more informative. However, on the positive side, it’s super easy to use, with customizable web-filtering presets, automatic age-based protections, and a reliable application blocker.

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Trend Micro VPN

Trend Micro’s VPN is only included in the premium plan. It claims to encrypt your web traffic, but it doesn’t hide your IP address, tunnel your traffic to a secure server, or really do anything that you would expect a VPN to do.

It does run your data through a secure cloud server that uses 256-bit AES encryption — the same standard used by most banks and governments. However, the VPN doesn’t offer much more protection than a standard HTTPS page.

Trend Micro’s VPN also doesn’t give you a virtual IP address or allow you to connect to different server regions. It instead runs your connection through 1 of 4 VPN servers that appear in your computer’s network settings.

You can’t choose which of these servers you connect to. The VPN automatically picks a connection, and if you try to manually change the server, Trend Micro asks for a username (which you’re never given) and a digital certificate (which you don’t have). This was quite frustrating, as my connection kept dropping, and I couldn’t fix it by switching to a different server.

Trend Micro’s VPN also doesn’t have many customization options. You can choose from the following options:

• Manual VPN: Turn the VPN off and on manually.
• Automatic VPN: Connects automatically on unsecured networks.
• VPN Always On: Connects every time you turn on your device.
• VPN Always Off: VPN is turned off unless you choose to manually turn it on.

There’s no kill switch or DNS leak protection, so if the VPN connection drops, your activity will no longer be hidden, and hackers may be able to intercept your data. Other VPNs – like ExpressVPN, for example – have a kill switch and DNS leak protection. This means that even if you lose the VPN connection, your data will be protected until it’s reestablished.

Furthermore, because Trend Micro’s VPN doesn’t disguise your IP address, there’s no way to unblock geo-restricted content on sites like Netflix and Hulu. This is something you can also do with ExpressVPN — and most other quality VPNs, to be honest.

In short: Trend Micro’s VPN is much, much less useful than any of the top VPNs on the market. It’s not even good when compared to other antivirus-bundled VPNs like those of Norton and McAfee.

Additional Features

In addition to the features mentioned above, Trend Micro comes with some decent additional features:

• Pay Guard: Opens a secure browser window for online banking or shopping (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer).
• Data Theft Prevention: Blocks sensitive data such as credit card numbers from being sent over the internet.
• Folder Shield: Adds extra security to selected folders to stop ransomware from encrypting them.
• Trend Micro Vault: Stores sensitive files in a password-protected folder.
• Secure Erase: Deletes a file securely, so it can never be recovered (only available on the Premium Security, Maximum Security, and Internet Security plans).
• Firewall Booster: Enhances Windows’ built-in firewall and blocks botnets from hijacking your PC.

Several of these additional features are pretty good. Whenever you navigate to a banking or finance website, Pay Guard opens a window offering to protect your browser from exploit attacks and pop-ups. While TotalAV, Avira, and Bullguard all feature secure browsers, none of them offer the same one-click functionality that Pay Guard does.

I also like Trend Micro’s secure erase feature and secure file vault, but I’m not really sure if the firewall booster, folder shield, and data theft prevention are as good as advertised. That said, I do appreciate that Trend Micro offers so many additional features for improving security.

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Trend Micro Plans and Pricing

Trend Micro offers 4 different plans. The most basic plan, Antivirus+ Security, is available for Windows (Mac users can get the similar basic Antivirus for Mac plan). A slightly more advanced plan is Internet Security, which is only available for Windows. Maximum Security and Premium Security Suite are the premium plans, and they both work on PCs, Macs, Androids, iOS devices, and Chromebooks.

Trend Micro doesn’t have a free plan, although it does offer a few free features, such as House Call (an online security scan) and the Safe Filter for Kids browser extension. All of its packages must be bought on a one- or two-year subscription. However, Trend Micro offers a 30-day free trial on all plans, and all purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Here’s what each plan includes:

Antivirus+ Security — Basic Paid Plan

Antivirus+ Security (and the separate Antivirus for Mac) covers 1 device and includes real-time malware protection, as well as:

• Ransomware protection.
• Secure web browser.
• Anti-phishing protection.

While it isn’t the most feature-rich plan, Trend Micro’s basic plan is a good option if you only want real-time malware protection and web protection. However, considering that Avira offers real-time malware scanning, PC tune-up, a password manager, and a web shield with its free antivirus product, I don’t think Trend Micro’s basic plan is the best deal on the market.

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Internet Security — Advanced PC Protection

Internet Security includes all of the features included in Antivirus+ Security, as well as:

• Parental controls.
• Social media privacy protection.
• PC optimization tool.
• Protection for up to 3 PCs.

This package comes at a great price considering the number of features it offers (more than the similarly priced Panda Dome Advanced package). It’s a pretty good option for a family looking to protect up to 3 PCs, but I’m disappointed that this plan is only available for Windows users — especially when competitors like Norton offer multi-device protection on their lower-tier plans.

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Maximum Security — Advanced Multi-Device Plan

Maximum Security has all of the features included in Internet Security, plus:

• Password manager.
• Mobile protection.
• Protection on up to 5 devices.

This plan can protect both Android and iOS mobile devices, as well as Windows, Mac, and Chromebook (yes, there are antiviruses for Chromebook), so it’s great for those looking for comprehensive protection across multiple devices.

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Premium Security Suite — Premium Multi-Device Plan

Premium Security Suite is Trend Micro’s most comprehensive plan. It includes everything offered in Maximum Security, plus:

• Dark web/ID theft monitoring.
• Personal VPN.
• Protection on up to 10 devices.

Unfortunately, Trend Micro’s VPN is not good, which slightly reduces the appeal of this premium plan. There are also similarly priced plans with much better extras — like Norton 360, which includes features like ID verification and credit monitoring, stolen wallet protection, and stolen funds reimbursement. That said, Premium Security Suite allows for protection on up to 10 devices, so it’s a decent option if you’re looking for complete online security for your whole household.

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Trend Micro Ease of Use and Setup

Trend Micro is really easy to set up and use. Installing it took me less than 5 minutes, and as soon as it started up, I was taken to an easy-to-navigate user interface (UI), where the main features were organized in 4 easy-to-read icons.

Every feature is accessible in a few clicks. Through the “Device” button, you can access security settings such as the real-time scanning options, the PC optimizer, and mute mode (which temporarily disables Trend Micro’s notifications).

The “Privacy” button on the main UI takes you to the Privacy Scanner and Social Media Protection. You can also configure your Pay Guard settings here (i.e., choose which websites you want to open in Trend Micro’s secure web browser).

Finally, the Data Theft Prevention options are also available from the “Privacy” tab. As with Pay Guard, all you have to do is enter the information you want to be protected, and Trend Micro will handle the rest automatically.

Back on the main UI, from the “Data” button you can access the Folder Shield, Secure Erase, Password Manager (opens web extension), or Vault (password protected folder).

Finally, the “Family” button gives you access to the Parental Controls, which only took me a few minutes to configure.

Overall, Trend Micro’s interface is intuitive and simple to navigate. This makes it easy to access and adjust every feature in just a few clicks.

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Trend Micro Mobile App

Trend Micro’s mobile security for Android and iOS is included in the Maximum Security and Premium Security Suite packages, but you can also buy it separately. It includes the following features:

• Malware scanner (Android only).
• Web protections.
• VPN.
• SMS phishing (smishing) blocker.
• App manager.
• Anti-theft protection.
• Parental controls.

The malware scanner worked really well during my tests. I downloaded an archive with hundreds of virus samples onto my Huawei P30 Lite Android phone, and Trend Micro managed to catch almost 100% of them.

Trend Micro’s mobile web protections are pretty good as well, and I like the smishing (SMS-based phishing) blocker. However, Trend Micro’s VPN is just as bad for mobile devices as it is for desktop users.

I really like Trend Micro’s theft protections; you can remotely lock your device, wipe your data, locate with GPS, and even turn on an alarm. To access these functions in the event of theft, you navigate to Trend Micro’s Lost Device portal on your web browser and log into your account. All of the anti-theft features are available in a super clear UI, and the “locate device” function pinpoints your device to within around 50-100 feet.

The only feature Trend Micro’s mobile app is missing, in my opinion, is an automatic selfie capture to identify thieves (which McAfee offers with its mobile app).

The parental controls work on the mobile app in much the same way as they do on the desktop app. The main difference is that there’s no way to schedule usage times like you can on the PC version, and there’s also no report screen to help track your children’s app and internet usage.

Overall, I really like Trend Micro’s mobile app. It’s got good anti-malware protections, web protections, and robust anti-theft capabilities.

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Trend Micro Customer Support

Trend Micro’s customer support provides various options, including:

• Comprehensive knowledge base.
• Phone support.
• Live chat.
• Email support.
• Social media/forum support.

I was impressed with how comprehensive and easy to navigate the knowledge base is. I found tons of well-written articles that answered a lot of my questions.

The phone support is excellent, too. If you live in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, or Malaysia, you have the choice between standard phone support Monday–Friday, or premium support 24/7 (if you have Trend Micro’s Premium Security Suite). All other countries offer standard Monday–Friday support times.

I was able to get through to standard support from Canada really quickly and chat with a helpful agent who answered all of my questions.

Getting in touch with the live chat agent only took me a minute, but it took a little bit too long to get my questions answered. The agent started our conversation by telling me about one of Trend Micro’s new features, instead of asking me what I needed help with. They did eventually address my question, but it took about 10 minutes.

With email support, a customer support agent got back to me in 9 hours, which is pretty fast. Unfortunately, they weren’t very helpful either. I asked whether or not I could see which websites my kid has visited through parental controls. They replied asking for a screenshot and a serial number. It was obvious they were just using a script.

Overall, the customer support team was prompt and knowledgeable (especially the phone support), but the email and live-chat agents wasted some time asking me unnecessary questions.

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Can Trend Micro Fully Protect You From Malware in 2021?

Yes, Trend Micro can fully protect you from malware. Its advanced malware scanner provides close to 100% malware protection and the web shield detected all of the dangerous websites in my testing. Trend Micro also comes with some pretty decent bonus features, such as a helpful privacy scanner that can secure your social media accounts, and basic parental controls that easily allow you to restrict how long your child can spend online and/or on a certain device.

However, I didn’t think the system tune-up tools were very good, and the VPN is frankly terrible (especially for the price).

I really like the anti-theft features on the mobile app — they’re easy-to-use and comprehensive. And while Trend Micro’s mobile protections aren’t quite as good as McAfee’s, I would still recommend Trend Micro’s Maximum Security package, which can protect up to 5 PCs, Macs, Androids, and iOS devices.

Overall, Trend Micro provides good anti-malware protection, a wide range of useful features, and a user-friendly interface. There are, however, a number of other companies offering better additional protections for a similar price. But all of Trend Micro’s plans come with a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try one out risk-free and see if it’s a good fit for you.

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Can Trend Micro be trusted?

Yes, you can trust Trend Micro to keep you secure. I tested the antivirus scanner against nearly 1,000 malware samples, and it detected almost 100% of them. However, if you want to maintain total privacy, you should know that Trend Micro collects data on your malware detection records (which is pretty standard practice among antivirus developers). This is to help Trend Micro identify new threats and address them quickly, but you can opt out of data collection if you want to keep your data completely private.

How effective is Trend Micro at removing malware?

Trend Micro is one of the top antiviruses when it comes to removing malware. Its antivirus engine employs very advanced AI-based malware protection technologies to protect your computer from:

• Malware.
• Ransomware.
• Trojans.
• Phishing and malicious sites.
• Many other cyber threats.

Trend Micro’s malware scanner achieved near-perfect detection scores in my tests, and is remarkably easy-to-use.

Can Trend Micro detect keyloggers?

Trend Micro’s real-time protection and machine-learning technology provide good protection against keyloggers, preventing them from infecting your PC in the first place. When I tested the real-time protection, I tried to download a handful of keylogger malware files, and Trend Micro managed to catch all of them before they could cause any damage.

Trend Micro doesn’t have additional keylogging protections, like an on-screen keyboard. If you’re specifically looking for this feature, I’d recommend checking out our list of the best antiviruses with keylogger protection.

Will Trend Micro work with Windows Defender?

No, the majority of Windows Defender’s features will turn off when Trend Micro is active. This is good news, because you don’t want multiple malware scanners interfering with each other (they can actually cancel each other out and put your device at serious risk). However, Trend Micro’s Firewall Booster does work with Windows Defender’s built-in firewall to add an additional layer of protection.

Is Trend Micro free?

No, Trend Micro’s antivirus products aren’t free. However, all of Trend Micro’s plans come with a 30-day free trial as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can make sure Trend Micro is right for you before committing long term. If you’re looking for a free antivirus program (which isn’t something I’d usually recommend), you should check out Avira, which is at the top of our list of the best free antiviruses in 2021.